Author's Note: Another thought that popped into my head. Probably not original. I hope you enjoy. Looking forward to your comments.
All characters involved with any sexual activity are 18 or older. All of my works on this site are copywritten by CurrentParameter and may only be used or reused with permission.
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Paul Cooper was looking forward to the week away. His fiancée's company had a yearly work retreat, and as they were now engaged, he was allowed to attend for the first time.
The retreat was in the mountains, not too far from their town. Although they were there with her work, he was looking forward to enjoying a week away from home with her.
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Paul met his fiancée, Fiona Turner, in high school. It was an odd pairing. She was the granddaughter of the owner of the largest employer in the town, the Turner Lumbermill. Whereas his father was a general labourer at the mill. Usually, the owner's family didn't mix with the "lower classes", but Paul was not only on the football team but was also a straight A student.
Partway through their senior year, they made the heartbreaking decision to break up. Fiona was accepted into one of the Ivy League schools on the East Coast. Her family could well afford to send her there. On the other hand, Paul was going for accounting at a nearby college. A third-tier school, but all that he could afford. They knew the distance was going to be too tough.
In college, at a frosh event, Paul met Gloria, a photography student. Paul thought she was cute, although some of his friends said she was a little mousy.
They were part of a group that enjoyed the outdoors. In their spare time, they would go for hikes. As Gloria was studying photography, her camera was always there. It was on one of these hikes, towards the end of their first year, that Gloria dropped a piece of her camera equipment. Paul went to pick it up for her, but they reached for it at the same time, and their hands touched as she picked it up. Paul didn't have any romantic feelings towards Gloria, but when he glanced in her eyes, he knew there was a connection. He knew he needed to spend more time with her.
Things started with them studying together. Then, Paul got up the nerve and asked her out. She quickly smiled and said yes. When asked, as a joke, she told people that she said to Paul, "It took you long enough."
They started to date. They kissed after that first date and made love for the first time to celebrate them both finishing that year's finals.
With two friends, they found jobs and moved into a four-bedroom house together for the summer. Gloria only used her room for study. They spent their nights in Paul's room as he had a double bed.
They continued their hikes. When Paul managed to scrounge some money together, he bought a used pair of binoculars so he could see what she was looking at through her camera lens. Later, he got the money together for a used camera and, later, a telephoto lens.
By their junior year, he wasn't just taking pictures as an excuse to be with Gloria but started to enjoy it as a hobby in itself.
Sadly, as they approached graduation, Gloria had been offered an opportunity to travel under a photography contract with a professor who was taking a sabbatical and wanted to take her star student to some opportunities that would allow her to get experience that would normally take years to achieve.
Paul knew that this was an opportunity that Gloria couldn't pass up. After a lot of tears and arguments, they agreed that it was best for them to break up so that Gloria could take this opportunity of a lifetime. If things went well for her, there was no way of knowing when she would be back.
They had one last celebration after finals, and then she was off. Again, Paul had to say goodbye to a girlfriend because she had an opportunity that couldn't be passed up.
After graduation, Paul was able to get a job in the accounting department back in town at the lumber mill. It was mostly just pushing papers around, but he was grateful to get some work close to his family. His brother, George, was several years older and had been working at the mill right after high school graduation. Their father was a shift lead by that time.
Paul moved into a spare bedroom at his brother's house. George, by that time, was married to his high school sweetheart, Tina, and they had two children. Tina was a stay-at-home mom, that is, until the kids were old enough to start school. Paul staying with them helped all of them. It was cheap rent for Paul, and for George and Tina, the money helped them with their mortgage payments and provided free babysitting.
Paul settled into his new life. He didn't date much. The selection was sort of thin in town. He had joined a hiking group and, due to the cheap rent, had started to upgrade his camera kit. He was proud of the latest addition, an 800mm lens that got him some great shots of any wildlife they encountered.
A few years later, the town was all excited as a new employer was coming to town. The owner of Caldwell Marketing, Mason Caldwell, had had enough of big city living, so he wanted to move the creative side of his business to a small town in the mountains. He said that getting the team away from the big city would help with their creative juices. Others thought he just wanted a big house and no commute. They had enough of a reputation in the marketing world that people came to him.
Their town was ideal. Because of the lumber mill, there were good roads in and out of the town. The lumber mill was a large employer, so their town had a small hospital and many of the other amenities that made their town ideal for what Mason was looking for. It took a few years for Mason to build his new home, or mansion, as some locals referred to it. An old brick warehouse was converted into an office space. "It had the right character for a Marketing firm.", Mason said.
When he brought the company to town, he also brought Fiona, Paul's ex-girlfriend from high school. She was an account manager for the firm.
One night, Paul was having a few drinks with some co-workers at one of the new restaurants in town when Fiona and some of her friends from work walked in.
Paul was surprised when he saw her. He didn't know that she had moved back to town. They waved at each other from across the room, but the place was crowded and the group he was with was leaving, so they didn't have a chance to talk.
That didn't matter. A few weeks later, Fiona appeared when his hiking group got together. A couple that Paul and Fiona went to high school with were a part of the hiking group, and Fiona tagged along with them.
Paul was actually not happy with her presence there. Paul had been getting close to one of the other members of the group, and didn't need Fiona's appearance to interrupt his attempts to make further progress in that potential relationship.
She, of course, did. Fiona ensured that she was always close to Paul, and the couple had to tell everyone about how Fiona and Paul were the "power" couple in high school. Paul had to inwardly sigh as the day went on, and any progress that he thought he had made slowly dissolved away with the other woman as Fiona inserted herself more and more into Paul and his interactions with the other hikers. She also took an interest in his photography, wanting to see what he was taking pictures of.
Although they had broken up eight years earlier, Paul did notice that Fiona was as beautiful as ever.
After the hike, the couple asked Paul and Fiona if they wanted to go to dinner. Paul knew he was being set up, but also knew that he was going to have to have a conversation with Fiona now that she was back. Having the couple there meant that he wasn't going to be alone with her. He knew that people changed in college. They were no longer the high school kids. They had both matured and were different people now. What he didn't expect was that the new Fiona was even more interesting to him than the Fiona he had dated in high school, and his attraction to her was still there.
After that dinner, as they walked out to their cars, Paul stopped Fiona and let the other couple, who drove her, walk ahead.
He said, "Fiona, I didn't know what to expect. We are different people than we were in high school. I don't know about you, but I like this new Fiona. Would you like to go out to dinner sometime?"
Fiona smiled and gave him a hug. She said, "I was hoping you would ask. To tell you the truth, my family has been keeping an eye on you since you started work at the mill, and they like what they see. They weren't just watching you as someone for me, but as someone who might have a future at the mill. But, once they knew that I was coming back, they thought I should look you up." She then paused. She said, "I like what I see. This 'Paul 2.0'. I would love to go out for dinner with you."
The dinner started dating. On occasion, Paul had the feeling that Fiona was with him because he was a safe choice that her parents liked. However, time made those thoughts go away. Then, after two years, he decided to pop the question.
Fiona only went irregularly on his hiking weekends. She really wasn't the outdoors type. That was fine with Paul. The hiking group understood him. They knew when he wanted to be left alone to get that shot. When Fiona came, she wanted to be a couple, and Paul couldn't get the time he needed to observe and take pictures.
However, he did, on occasion, convince Fiona to go hiking with the group. On this occasion, they were all in on it. When they got to the top of this one ridge, with an amazing view of the mountains, a few got their camera phones out as he got on one knee and asked her to marry her. She screamed yes, jumped into his arms, and bounced from foot to foot as he put the ring on her finger.
Her family was all excited. Her grandfather took him aside and told him that he saw him going places at the lumber mill.
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That was six months ago. Paul moved into Fiona's apartment two months ago. He left most of his stuff at his brother's, though. They were still in the planning stages of their wedding, and planned to buy a place, so he and his brother agreed that it didn't make much sense to move everything into Fiona's, which didn't have much space, and then move it again into their eventual house.
As it was a work retreat, running Monday to Friday, the schedule was that while the employees worked during the day, the spouses would relax at the mountain resort in the morning and then go out for an activity in the afternoon. These activities included tours to local attractions, trips to learn crafts, or, in today's case, a hiking trip through the scenic mountains.
Fiona laughed as Paul packed his camera bag. She said, "You never go on these hikes light, do you?"
Paul responded, "You never know what you might come across. He pointed to his 800mm lens. I might see a mountain lion on another ridge. This will allow me to get a good shot."
She came up and hugged him and said, "Well, have fun today. We have a brainstorming session all day on a few new accounts. See you tonight."
Fiona then left.
Seeing that his bag was packed, Paul headed to the pool where the other spouses had gathered to relax. They were heading out on the hike after lunch.
As they got a short distance from the resort, after the first climb on the trail, Paul noticed a break in the trees. He was looking down at the entire resort. On the left side was the conference center. He got out the 800mm lens and spotted through one of the windows, Fiona sitting, watching a presentation. He took a few quick snaps. The company booked the entire resort, even though they only used the rooms on the mountainside. Mason didn't want his retreat to be ruined by someone outside the company. Paul laughed when he heard that.
The center and right side of the resort were the rooms. Between him and the resort was the pool and recreation area. He took a few more pictures, noting the room he and Fiona stayed in. He had left a towel on a chair on the balcony to make it easier to spot. He could see Mason's room. Fiona had gone on about the Presidential Suite he was staying in. It was on a floor of its own on the top floor of the resort.
The hike went really well. The pace was slow for Paul and a couple of people he knew who were in his hiking group, but he understood that the hike had to factor in that not everyone was used to this type of activity. After two hours, they stopped at a ridge. The resort had staff bring water and snacks for the hikers to enjoy as they took in the view. After half an hour, they started the journey back.
Unfortunately, one of the husbands, a large guy, at least six feet six inches, tripped, fell, and hurt his ankle. One of the guides who knew first aid thought it was sprained.
